Cruise Report: 2022-08-01 : 08-03

Pot survey

Author

Mike O’Brien (UMCES)

Participants

  • Dave Secor (UMCES)
  • Mike O’Brien (UMCES)
  • Capt. Kerry Harrington (F/V Integrity)
  • Reilly (F/V Integrity, mate)
  • Lucas (F/V Integrity, mate)

Pot deployment cruise, 2022-08-02

Overall

  • 03:00 Meet at F/V Integrity, load remaining gear and prepare for departure.
  • 03:30 Depart dock, transit to J06 (experimental turbine site).
  • 05:46 Arrive at J06 (formerly A-9-2).
    • 05:49 Begin deploying pots.
    • 05:52 Finish deploying pots, transit to N12 (experimental turbine site).
  • 06:41 Arrive at N12 (formerly A-5-4).
    • 06:44 Begin deploying pots.
    • 06:47 Finish deploying pots, transit to L12 (experimental turbine site).
  • 07:05 Arrive at L12 (formerly A-7-6).
    • 07:06 Begin deploying pots.
    • 07:09 Finish deploying pots, transit to J12 (experimental turbine site).
  • 07:26 Arrive at J12 (formerly A-9-8).
    • 07:26 Begin deploying pots.
    • 07:28 Finish deploying pots, transit to C02208_2 (randomly-selected control site).
  • 07:54 Arrive at C02208_2.
    • 07:55 Begin deploying pots.
    • 07:58 Finish deploying pots, transit to C0822_1 (altered from randomly-selected control site).
  • 08:21 Arrive at C0822_1.
    • 08:21 Begin deploying pots.
    • 08:24 Finish deploying pots, transit to F/V Integrity fishing grounds.
  • 13:40 End fishing, return to West Ocean City, MD.
  • 16:30 Arrive in West Ocean City, MD.

Description

Survey deployment

Capt. Kerry Harrington and mate Reilly stacked the pots on the boat from 13:00 - 19:00 on 1 August. Ground line between pots was coiled and placed into the next pot in the sequence. Capt. Harrington brought on a more-experienced hand, Lucas, to deploy research pots and fish Integrity pots.

Wind speed was 10-5 knots, coming from the southwest (as reported by Capt. Harrington). Waves were 2-3 ft. Cloud cover was 30-50% of the sky. Control sites ranged in depth from 97 - 101 ft, with turbine sites ranging from 79 - 115 ft.

Random site selection seemed suspect, with sites largely a repeat of the previous cruise. After deploying C2208_2 pots, we decided to move the C2208_1 site to a location 2 nautical miles SW of C2208_1.

Pot recovery cruise, 2022-08-03

Overall

  • 03:00 Meet at F/V Integrity, await arrival of captain and mate.
  • 03:15 Depart dock, transit to J06 (experimental turbine site).
  • 05:33 Arrive at J06 (formerly A-9-2).
    • 05:35 Southern trawl anchor (“block”) recovered.
    • 05:44 Pot recovery complete. Transit to N12.
  • 06:35 Arrive N12 (formerly A-5-4). Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 06:36 Southern block recovered.
    • 06:45 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to L12.
  • 06:59 Arrive L12 (formerly A-7-6). Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 07:00 Southern block recovered.
    • 07:07 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to J12.
  • 07:22 Arrive J12 (formerly A-9-8). Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 07:23 Southern block recovered.
    • 07:29 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to C2208_2.
  • 08:05 Arrive C2208_2. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 08:06 Southern block recovered.
    • 08:17 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to C2208_1.
  • 08:50 Arrive C2208_1. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 08:51 Southern block recovered.
    • 08:59 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Return to West Ocean City, MD.
  • 11:10 Arrive in West Ocean City, MD.

Description

Wind speed was <5 knots, coming from the southwest (as reported by Capt. Harrington). Waves were 1 foot. Cloud cover was 0-10% of the sky.

Pots were recovered in the same manner as in the 2022-07-18 report:

M. O’Brien pulled pots onboard with the assistance of Capt. K. Harrington, reporting catch per species, per pot to D. Secor. Fish from the first 6 pots were placed in the “near” tote with fish from the subsequent 9 pots placed in the “far” tote. Due to how the pot strings were recovered, the “near” pots were the southernmost pots, and the “far” pots the northernmost; this was the reverse of the 2022-07-18 cruise.

Dominant species were black sea bass (39) and Jonah Crab (29), with sand dollars and one each of sea stars, seahorses, and mud crabs also present. 24 of the 89 recovered pots were empty. There was no significant difference in black sea bass catch between near and far sections of the lines (\(\chi\)-squared, \(p >\) 0.05). There was, however, a significant difference between control and turbine sites (\(\chi\)-squared, \(p <\) 0.001); this was due to C2208_2 being placed upon the “cable pile”, an artificial reef structure which will be removed from further consideration as a control site.

Total length (mm) and weight (g) of all black sea bass were recorded, culling the first five from each “near” and “far” section and releasing the others. Total lengths of other fish species were also recorded. Black sea bass ranged in total length from 174 - 370 mm, with a mean of 244 mm (minimum legal size 280 mm). Weights ranged from 80 - 520 g, mean of 237 g. There were no significant differences in length or weight between control and turbine sites (ANOVA, \(p >\) 0.05). There was no significant difference in weight between near and far sections of the lines (ANOVA, \(p >\) 0.05), but near sites were significantly longer than far sites (ANOVA, \(p =\) 0.02). This was driven entirely by the control site located on the cable pile, as can be seen in the measurement summaries

Catch and size data summaries are shown in the sample summary section below.

Station information

datetime depth wind_speed wind_dir wave_height cloud_cover_10th lon_start lat_start lon_end lat_end notes old_station
deploy
J06 2022-08-02 05:46:34 99 10-15 SW 2.0 7.0 −74.71617 38.37020 −74.71513 38.37217 NA A-9-2
N12 2022-08-02 06:41:58 115 10-15 SW 2.0 5.0 −74.66720 38.26939 −74.66749 38.26682 NA A-5-4
L12 2022-08-02 07:05:22 90 10-15 SW 2.0 3.0 −74.69964 38.26916 −74.70005 38.26689 NA A-7-6
J12 2022-08-02 07:26:03 79 10-15 SW 2.0 3.0 −74.73226 38.26918 −74.73313 38.26760 NA A-9-8
C0822_2 2022-08-02 07:54:41 97 10-15 SW 3.0 3.0 −74.73921 38.21294 −74.73968 38.21083 NA NA
C0822_1 2022-08-02 08:21:47 101 10-15 SW 3.0 3.0 −74.77686 38.18385 −74.77759 38.18203 NA NA

Cruise map

Sample summary

Catch

N min average max sd
June - Control far 18 1 1.4 2 0.51
near 10 1 2.5 5 1.73
Total 28
June - Project far 6 1 1.2 2 0.45
near 5 1 1.2 2 0.50
Total 11
July - Control far 18 1 3.0 6 2.00
near 11 1 1.6 3 0.98
Total 29
July - Project far 13 1 1.2 3 0.60
near 4 1 1.0 1 0.00
Total 17
August - Control far 83 1 5.9 14 5.05
near 58 2 8.3 18 6.52
Total 141
August - Project far 14 1 1.4 3 0.70
near 13 1 1.6 4 1.06
Total 27

August 2022 catch

The blank bars on the right show the count of pots with no catch.

Fish measurements

Total length (mm)

Weight (g)